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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (January 9):
Question:
In his 2008-2009 Policy Address, the former Chief Executive announced that an assessment system would be established for the provision of hillside escalator links and elevator systems ("the Systems"). Subsequently, the authorities gave scores under the assessment system to 18 proposals on the provision of the Systems in the territory and set their implementation priority. They also conducted feasibility studies in 2011 and 2012 on the top 10 proposals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether the aforesaid feasibility studies have been completed; if so, of the progress in implementing those 10 proposals, including the time for submitting the funding proposals to this Council and constructing the Systems; and
(b) how the authorities will handle the remaining 8 proposals; whether they will allocate additional resources to handle those proposals expeditiously; if they will, of the timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The last term of the Government has established a set of comprehensive, objective and transparent scoring criteria for assessing proposals for the "provision of hillside escalator links and elevator systems" (hillside escalator system) to determine the priority for conducting feasibility studies for the proposed works projects. In 2010, the 20 proposals received at that time were assessed in accordance with the assessment system and the results were reported to the Legislative Council Panel on Transport on February 26, 2010. It was indicated at the same time that feasibility studies for the proposals ranked top 10 in the assessment would be conducted by batches, and that the remaining proposals ranked below them would be followed up after the smooth implementation of the top 10 proposals.
The two parts of Hon Leung Yiu-chung's question are replied together as follows:
(a) and (b) Regarding the proposals ranked top 10 in the assessment, preliminary technical feasibility studies for the top 9 have been completed. The highest ranking proposal, "Pedestrian Link at Tsz Wan Shan" in Wong Tai Sin, has been included in the Shatin to Central Link project and is under construction. In addition, the Highways Department (HyD) will gradually commence the investigation and preliminary design works for the proposals ranked second to ninth, with a view to taking them further forward. The preliminary technical feasibility study for the tenth ranking proposal, "Lift and Pedestrian Walkway System between Lai King Hill Road and Lai Cho Road", is nearing completion.
For the construction of a hillside escalator system, after the proposed project has been confirmed technically feasible by the preliminary technical feasibility study, various tasks of pre-construction works have to be carried out, including ground investigation, preliminary design, consultation of district councils and relevant stakeholders, gazettal of the proposal and handling of objections (if any) under the Roads (Works, Use and Compensation) Ordinance, and also land acquisition (if needed) etc.. Thereafter, funding will have to be applied from the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council for carrying out detailed design and construction works.
Hillside escalator systems are relatively larger in scale and often involve considerations such as slopes, soil properties, diversion of underground utilities, and land resumption, and are considerably complex. Furthermore, project sites are often located in urban areas of high-density development, or even in the proximity of residential areas. Their alignments are sometimes somewhat controversial and require extensive public consultation. For issues that are highly controversial, in particular those regarding alignments and impact on residents and shops in the vicinity, more time would be needed for responding to and balancing demands of various stakeholders.
As regards funding application, the Government will have to review annually all public works under planning, taking into account factors including their progress, resources available, priority, urgency and benefits to the public, etc., so as to determine their implementation order and timetable.
On the timetable for implementing the proposals ranked second to ninth, as all the tasks of pre-construction works involve complicated procedures, the actual time needed cannot be confirmed at this stage but HyD will closely follow the tasks concerned.
Following the completion of the feasibility studies for the top 10 proposals, HyD now has to devote more resources to the concerned pre-construction works. Therefore, regarding the other 8 lower-ranked proposals apart from those 10 (except for the "Escalator Link System at Yuet Wah Street" which is being taken forward through the opportunity brought about by the Kwun Tong Town Centre redevelopment project of the Urban Renewal Authority), we will follow up on them after the smooth implementation of the top 10 proposals. Nevertheless, in response to requests of the public, we will examine whether there is room to expedite the handling of these proposals.
Ends/Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:00
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